Styles of Music Video

There are many different types of music videos, we have different types of music videos so that they aren't all the same and boring, it is for a variety, these include the following:

·         Homage – homage is basically something that references something from the past, this could be a music video where everyone wears 80’s clothes and it is set in an 80’s setting. An example of this is Digital Love by Daft Punk, in this video they use inspiration from Japanese manga and use that for the narrative, this is what it is referencing from the past.

·         Narrative + Animation – Narrative means story, so a narrative music video would be a music video that has a story to it. Animation is straight forward, if the music video is animated, then it falls into the animation category. A music video that shows this is No Handlebars by the Flobots, in this video you see two friends that chose two different paths to life, on being freedom and the other corporate, this force the two friends to become enemies and fight against one another until one finally dies, this is the narrative of the music video. The reason this also falls into animation is because the whole video is animated. This music video also has examples of lyric interpretation, an example of this in the Flobots music video is when he says even when the paths are crookedly and the path on the floor is all broken and cracked. 

·         As Live – As live means that in the music video the song is performed live, this is usually in a concert or a venue. An example of this is Let there be love by Oasis, the reason this is as live is because the video is a recording from one of their concerts, in which you see them perform and you can see the audience cheering etc.

·         Pastiche – This in its simplest term is imitation, it is a music video that copies an original piece of work, but tries to make it funny, but not in a way that would mock the original. The example of this is Walk by Foo Fighters, in this music video they copy the movie Falling down, but they make their twist on the video to make it funny. But if the original never existed, the music video by the Foo Fighters would never have been made.

·         Parody – This is similar to a pastiche, it also copies another thing to try and make it funny, but in this case it is there to mock the original and/or the creator of the thing being mocked. An example of this can be found with the Rebecca Black parody performed by the youtube channel ‘Funnyz’ in this video the creator makes the lyrics of the song and the video to show that the creator of the original is stupid and their video is stupid also.

·         Influence of commercials – This is when a music video uses advertisement strategies to carry the narrative of the song. An example of this the song Gold Digger by Kanye West. The reason that this shows influence of commercials is because they use the way that magazine covers are set out in magazines to shows the women off, they do this the same way in the music video. This video also has links to other artists, in this video the link to the other artist is Jamie Fox. 

·         Referencing – This is when a music video uses another media product for inspiration. A music video that references another media product is the music video for the song the Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars, the reason for this is that they reference the shining in the video. You can see this as they try to make the hotel they’re staying at the same as the one in the shining, they also try to make it creepy, like the movie, this is a reference, it is also known as an Allusion.

·         Surreal – This is something that would make the audience believe wouldn’t happen in the real world, it has to give off this sort of dream vibe. An example of this could be the song street spirit by Radio head. In this video things happen that wouldn't happen in real life, for example time randomly slows and speeds up and goes fast for some people and slower for others, it gives you a sort of dream like feel to it. 

·         Interpretative – This when in a music video the lyrics explain exactly what is going on in the video. An example of this could be Trapped in the closet by R.Kelly, in this video he literally explains what he is doing in the video with his lyrics, It is as if he is telling a story in a song.

·         Impressionist – This when the artist put in their music video their impression of a style, genre or theme. An example of this is Sabotage by The Beastie Boys. In the video they artists are pretending to be American cops, they have done this by taking the image they have from watching American cop movie and making that their video. This is how it is impressionist, because it is their view on how American movie cops are. This music video also shows an example of a music video that extends a songs meaning, this is shown when the words Sabotage come up on the video. 

Music video techniques

There are several different music video techniques, these are as follow:

·         Cutting to the beat – this is where the music video will cut to different shots in the beat of the song. An example of this is the song same girl by R.kelly and Usher, in the video every time there is a beat the video cuts.

·         Effects – Effects are used in a music video to add narrative to the video, for example they will make explosions or buildings crashing to the ground. An example in a music video can be found in Dr Dre’s music video I need a doctor in which they crash a Ferrari to add story to the video.

·         Miming and lip sync – This is when in a music video the people in the video don’t actually sing the song, they just move their lips to make it seem like they are singing the song. An example of this can be found with Nicklebacks song Rockstar, in this video everyone is moving their lips to the lyrics of the song which the original track is playing the background.

·         Use of Multi image – This is when there is different types of shots that are focusing on one target, a music video that uses multi image is Without me by Eminem, in his video there are parts where the screen will split and have two different recordings in each of the split.

·         Camera shots/ angles and movement – A tracking shot is where the camera follows a target, it will move along with the subject. A panning shot is where the camera will stay still and follow the target. This is used in music videos when people are moving about, it covers all movement. Close ups will be used to capture emotion. An establishing shot is used to set the scene. High angle shot will be used to show the innocence of someone. A low angle will be used to capture the importance of the person.

·         Chroma key/ green screen – A green screen is basically something that you can place a background on, this is used in the background of something, in this case it will be a music video, usually you will see the band/artist performing and there will be a big green screen in the background, but in the video it will be something different. An example of this is Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green day when they’re walking down the road, but the background of the video is like a desert, but in real life it would be just a green screen.

·         Lighting - there are two types of lighting, the first is high key lighting in this is where the video will have very bright lighting and there will be no shadows. Low key lighting will make the video appear darker; this will create a moodier image. An example of low key lighting in a music video is the song Grounds for divorce by Elbow, in this music video the lighting is very low and makes the place look very dingy and dark. A music video of high key lighting can be found in the music video for Kiss the stars by Pixie Lott, in this video it is very bright and you can't see the shadows of people in the video.

Synergy

Synergy comes from the Greek word that means work together. In media it is used to explain how different products can work together using the same concepts, for example, film soundtrack and video games.

Example of synergy was used in the film terminator 2, a guns and roses song “you could be mine” the result was that the song promoted the film and the film promoted the song.

Producer’s strategies

The music industry consists of many artists and performers working with varying levels of ambition and success.

Major record labels are usually owned by multinational corporations. Labels such as London, Island, and Polydor sign artists they think will have mass appeal and therefore make lot of money. They will look to use music videos as part of a wider marketing strategy that includes things such as radio play, press reviews, TV appearances and an expensive website. An example of a band that is signed with a major record label is 30 Seconds to Mars who are signed with EMI. You can see that EMI are a major record label from looking at a music video from 30 Seconds to Mars, such as This is War, which from watching you can see they spent a great deal of money on this video. If you watch the video you will see that the location of the video is set in the desert, which means that they would have to move all the equipment there to film which would make the video cost a great deal. Also in the video the band is in character of army men, so they need to use props such as the army gear and the guns etc. They also have to use a army vehicles, all of this would be too mush money for anything other than a major record label to afford.

Indie record labels, smaller independent record labels such as domino, have much smaller budgets and the artists they sign generally have more niche appeal. This means that the marketing strategy is different as they can’t rely on radio and TV for promotions. Music videos are used although they will be much lower budget and accessed mainly through the internet. An example of a band that is signed to an indie record label is The Xx, who're signed to Young Turks . You can tell that they're signed to an indie record label as the video hasn't had much money spent on it, using the song Crystalised as my example. The video is set out in a performance style, it is pretty much the band just performing on a stage, and that is the whole video. You can see in this video that this is all performed in a studio and would've been filmed in one day, this means that they would have to rent the studio for the day which would cost not too much. Also in the video, they used a projector to project things over the performers instead of a green screen, as it would have cost more to use one. Also in the video nothing special is happening, all it is, is the performers on a stage lip syncing to the words and playing the instruments, there are no special effects or expensive equipment used.

Self produced artists who self produce and are not signed to a record label tend not to have much of a budget for music videos. Their videos tend to be homemade and posted online receiving very few hits. An example of an artist that has become quite successful from self promotion is Charlie McDonnell, who posts music videos on youtube, he isn't signed with any record label and you can see this from his music videos. The reason that you can tell that this video is self promoting is because of many reasons, first of all, and most obvious is that he is simply in his room singing into a camera, all of the actual special effects, e.g. two of him are done in the post production. We can also tell that he is self promoting because of the natural lighting he is using and the fact that he isn't lip syncing, he is singing into the camera, not playing the same track over it.

Purpose of Music Videos

The history of music videos

The very first music video to be created was a Queen Song by the name of Bohemian Rhapsody and this was made back in 1975, and just by watching this video and comparing it to what we have now e.g. the video is pretty basic, there is no use of special effects, high key lighting, cutting to the beat, green screen or anything like that, it is just a simple video where you see the band lip syncing to the song and performing it. From this we can see just how far music videos have come.

 

The reasons why music videos exist

There are a few reasons why music videos exist today, but the main reason why people make them is to use as a promotional tool, these music videos promote the artist or the album/single, so if people enjoy the video then they may want to check out the artist themselves. The second reason why music videos exist is for entertainment, which also acts as a promotional tool; as if it is entertaining then people will want to check out the band/artist. The last reason why music videos exist is to be used as a form of art.

What makes a good music video?

There are a few things that make a music video good, and for it to be good it must include all these things, the first of which is that it must have some level of entertainment, if it isn't entertaining then it won't be watched. The next is that must be accessible to a mainstream audience, meaning it must be on TV or the Internet or something else that is used by a lot of people, if it isn't then it can't be viewed by a lot of people. The next one ties into entertainment, as a good music video has to be unique, because if it just the same as another one then people won't find it very entertaining. The last thing is that it must leave a lasting impression; it must make the person who watched it want to talk about it with people and remember it and watch it again and again.

Where does the audience consume music videos?

There are many places that people can consume music videos in this day and age, and each method has different purposes and outcomes, they are as follow:

· MTV - The main purpose of MTV is to promote the artist that is being shown on their channel. Being that this channel is showing music videos 24/7 they give people a lot of exposure to music videos; also by showing these music videos they are making money from subscriptions and advertisements. An example of something that has been promoted by MTV is the Buggles who did the first ever music video performed on MTV with the song Video killed the radio star.

· YouTube – The purpose of music videos on YouTube is to promote, but since anyone can upload videos to YouTube, the service can also be self promoting, which helps lesser known artists. Something that is unique about YouTube is that it tracks the view count also the likes/dislikes to see the popularity of the video. An example of someone that has become famous from youtube is Justin Bieber, he performed as an armature premoting his own music, and now has become one of the most known singers in the world.

· DVD – This is used to promote as it is the traditional way of promotion. The outcome of it being on a DVD is that money made goes to the artists, record companies and retailers. An example of a band that has been premoted through DVD is the Beatles who played in the movie A Hard Day's Night, which is a movie about them and their music, and they used this to premote their music and their band.

· iTunes – The purpose of iTunes is also to promote the artist and albums. The result of buying music videos from iTunes is that when purchased the video can be viewed anywhere and at anytime, another thing is that all money spent of the music video goes to the record companies, artist and iTunes itself, the top 5 downloaded songs from iTunes all time are

1. "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas
2. "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
3. "Boom Boom Pow" by Black Eyed Peas
4. "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
5. "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay

· Social Networking – When referring to social networking, the most famous examples would be Facebook and MySpace, and the reason that music videos are placed on these sites is to promote the artists. The outcome for putting music videos on these sites are that fans of the artist can voice their opinion on the music video and the popularity of the video can be measured, also money can be made to Facebook if the artist attracts a lot of popularity as people will want advertisements placed on the page or the video. There are also a lot of people these days who created facebook pages to promote their work, e.g. Alex Day who will put up his music videos on Facebook for those who dont use Youtube.

Why is multi camera used?

Why is multi camera used?

Multi camera is used for a variety of different reasons, for example multi camera could be used so that less editing is used, because when using multi camera, it allows for editing on the fly, which is basically editing as you go along, whereas if it wasn’t multi camera then an editor would have to come in and do lots of work and it would take a lot of time. Another reason is that it covers a lot of area and allows for many shots from different angles, of one particular area, which might be useful for shows such as strictly come dancing which will need to focuses on the dancers from different angles. Multi camera is also used to capture emotion and reactions, this is because it can be instantly switched from camera to camera, for example, in deal or no deal, the contestant could have just been offered a very generous price, so the camera would want to capture their reaction and emotion with a close up. In short multi camera is used so that it can always be focused easily on the centre of attention in that point in time, a plus is that it is also cheaper and less time consuming.

How is meaning communicated to the audience?

This is done in different ways, it all depends on the show but in most cases this is used so that the audience can build a sort of relationship with the person in the show and related to them. For example in Deal or no deal the camerawork will make us focus on the contestant with close ups and it will show their emotions when something happens, this makes you picture what it would be like to be them or to be in their position and gives you an understanding of them. They also do this with the pacing of the show, the cameras can focus on the other contestants that hold the other boxes, this is captured by the multi camera and then suspense is build with the slow pace done by the vision mixer. The same can be said about This Morning, this makes us feel comfortable with its warm homely environment which is further emphasised by the hosts who talk in an informal friendly sort of way, this is all shown to use by the way the cameras capture the emotion, they are able to capture everyone in each individual camera so that we don’t miss anything.

How does it maintain the viewer’s interest?

Again, each show will do this in different ways, it all depends on the show, some can be simple ways and others can be more complicated. Using The Alan Carr Show as an example, they only way that this show maintains the viewer’s interest is by the different celebrity guests that they feature, but they capture this with multi camera  and they make it interesting by focusing on the celebrity and showing emotion and reactions which make the show interesting to us as the viewer. However, using Strictly Come Dancing as an example the reason it is interesting is the pace that the cameras are cut to, what I means is, when people are dancing on the show the cameras will switch at the speed of the music that is being used, this makes it exciting and suspenseful. But this isn’t the only reason this maintains the viewer’s interest, they use the cameras to focus on the different celebrities that they have on the show, and the different dancing and music that goes with it.

What are the constraints of the Studio?

The main constraint of every production is that there isn’t always enough space in the studio; this could mean that there isn’t enough space for all the cameras necessary to capture everything possible. Another constraint that most productions will face is that the studio set might become stale and boring to the audience, this is because since it’s a multi camera production the audience will pretty much know the whole set of whatever show they’re watching because it is covered by all the different cameras. Audience in a studio can always be a problem, this is because the audience itself is completely uncontrollable, so if there is massive traffic or an accident, or something of that nature, then some of the audience may not come and it could be a turnout of little amount. The problem of this is that since it is multi camera, the cameras cover pretty much everything in the studio, so this could be a problem as if the cameras capture the audience, which could be half empty then it won’t look very good. However when dealing with an OB it can be very difficult as you have to get all the things you would need in a studio e.g. cameras and gallery, outside, but this give you almost infinite space. An example of this is Total Wipe-out; there is lots of space to place everything they need, e.g. swimming pools and obstacle courses.